[Killietalk] RO unit setup questions

[Sue Katz <dskatz at earthlink_net>]

Hi everyone,

Well, time has come to give more than serious thought to an RO setup.  I am having a lot of fish problems, maybe due to the flooding north of us in Coffeeville.  I have spoken with the aerobic septic tank people about whether or not I can have an RO unit, and their take is that I can, as long as the unit is not too large.

I'm talking withe the water people about either a 25 or 50 gallon per day RO unit that will fill a reservoir.  For water changes, I will need something much larger than the 5 gallon pressurized reservoir that they normally use.
I remember hearing and seeing some people using rubbermaid drums, and I would like some feedback on their durability and suitability.

Right now, I am planning to set up the RO unit in a closet in my laundry room.  The closet in there has no tile, has the gas hot water heater (set up on a pedestal with a drain (also used by the cooling coils for the AC in the attic above).  The RO unit would be on the side closer to the garage, and on the other side of the closet wall from the hot water heater is the refrigerator space, which does have plumbing setup in the wall.  If this is feasible, I will plan to put the barrel on some containment (hopefully hooked to the water heater drain), with a float valve to shut the RO unit off when full.

The size of the RO unit is in part dictated by the fact that I have to do the water changes when I have time, on the weekends, and if I have a tiny unit, then I will not be able to do many water changes, waiting for the slow unit to refil the reservoir.  OK, well, actually, the number of water changes is pretty much limited by how long I last.  I did my last real set of water changes on the end of July, start of August, and every tank that I cleaned has had all or part of the fish in the tank die.  As a very short term interim measure, I am filtering water through some of the drinking water filter pitchers, but that won't work long term.  I will be watching to see if the fish begin to recover as they get what I hope is cleaner water.  The fish most affected so far have been the aphys and scripts.  Rivulus, fundulus and pseudoeppiplatys have not shown any problems (yet).

Any feedback or suggestions are very welcome.  I've avoided the RO unit for a while, believing that I could not run one on my septic tank.  I am glad to know that that is not quite correct, and intend to get this in as soon as possible - or I may not have any live fish to deal with.

I invested last month in a linear piston pump to make sure that I am adequately aerating the fish.  It's helped a little, but I am more sure than ever that the issue is the water.  A short test on green water has indicated some issues.  We all know how sensitive daphnia are.  A TAKO member sent me some of his green water. I put half into one flask, half into another and added the same volume of dechlorinated tap water to one, and bottled water to the other.  Algae is growing in both flasks.  However, most interestingly, daphnia which were in the green water are thriving in the one with bottled water, but not in the one which I put tap water into.

Sue Katz
dskatz at earthlink_net
Collinsville, OK
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